Our asteroid survival: A fictitional history of the ten year survival of a large ELE asteroid impact by a small, pre advised, group

by Lionel Woodhead

  The use of fuel, in the manner of transport, had been almost banned so it was necessary to explain how we had seen the situation at the time. To further justify the use we advised that we now had an optician with some of his equipment and further we provided an estimate of the number of persons, the fuel, stores and food that would be added to our supplies using our transport. When they were made aware of the potential benefits it was reluctantly agreed, by the few detractors, that our actions were acceptable though our unilateral changing of the rules still did not meet with universal approval. With this last pronouncement I tended to agree though in the position we had found ourselves at the time I believe we had acted, at the very least, for the best.

  By the time we had finished describing the material benefits of joining with the cave people we had fully converted the majority to our idea. We intentionally underestimated the additional stores including only about half the stores we considered we would obtain and I described the diesel stock of only a single cave as this was all I had seen.

  Our shelter residents decided that the vehicle would remain in use. It was, however, stated that, to protect against our shelter being discovered by uninvited persons following the vehicle tracks, we would have to make our best efforts to remove, as far as was possible, the vehicle’s visible tracks upon the completion of our transportation adventures. It was further decided that twelve more units of accommodation would be set up to accommodate our new guests.

  To allow us to bring the sheep to the main shelter it would be necessary to provide some additional, good quality, accommodation for the animals. This was necessary as the climate would have been very trying, if not deadly, for unprotected animals without some form of protective accommodation. To provide such a resource it would be necessary to further repair at least one of the original buildings. This action was essential as there would be insufficient space for the sheep, new chickens and our guests within our shelter.

  An additional element with this requirement was that it would be potentially dangerous to put the cave animals with ours until a quarantine period had been completed. For these new animals a quarantine shelter would, therefore, be required. Logically if the accommodation was suitable for a quarantine period the animals could stay in that facility hence it should be designed with this in mind. Any alternative approach would result in the shelter animal area becoming overcrowded. Further the animals would be coming with a very large quantity of provisions of all sorts which would, in itself, require considerable storage space. This could then be accommodated within the animals’ accommodation where it would be in place for use by our animals.

  To look after these animals the cave dwellers had two experienced shepherds who had described their minimum requirements which could not, at this time, be met in the shelter. It was decided that all the outbuildings would be fully restored to ensure sufficient protection for the stores, personnel and animals we would be bringing from the caves. This would also be beneficial, as had been agreed in the caves, it would provide our new personnel with something useful to do until they had been taken up by one of our projects or taken specific jobs within our habitation.

  One problem with using the repaired buildings as living accommodation was the potential heat signature available to any suitable equipped predatory group. It was then considered, however, that our group would now be sufficiently strong as to be able to fight off any group of a size we might expect to encounter or, alternatively, to convince them of the benefits of joining, or at least associating, with us for mutual benefit.

  The task of restoring the house, as a barn, was begun immediately and this was, within a few weeks, satisfactorily completed. This building was chosen as it was the nearest to our shelter entrance and, via the quarantine shelter, could soon be directly connected by a tunnel. The other buildings would be repaired as labour became available so that we could then remove some of our own and the cave stores out of the shelter. This work was performed to provide more space for our greater numbers.

  It was decided that myself and Pancho, who had acted as the visitor to our shelter, would return immediately to the cave to present his people with an assessment of the facilities available in our shelter. The optician, the doctor and Fernando would stay in the quarantine area for a period. If the doctor was required in the shelter the quarantine period would, of necessity, be broken but for no other reason.

  On our return from the cave we would bring a further four persons, including Pancho and our two representatives, to the shelter quarantine cellar and after that no further persons from the caves would come to the shelter for at least a week. In other words the quarantine period would now be reduced to nine days and a medical examination. In my opinion even this was excessive as we had been advised that no-one in the caves had been ill, except for mild colds and some minor digestive disorders, since their entry into their habitation. As a guess the cold weather must have reduced any bacterial or virus contamination within the cave group and our new guests had been reasonably well fed.

  Only two persons from the shelter would travel between the cave and the shelter and they would remove their load into the house by themselves without coming into contact with anyone from our shelter. It was decided that the task required two persons for safety reasons. If an accident occurred, incapacitating one, there would be a second person to raise the alarm or assist. In addition two persons provided companionship for eachother. These two persons, myself and Miguel, would stay every night in the rich mans shelter.

  We were given permission to make ourselves as comfortable as possible and to arrange the transport of personnel and equipment as we thought best within the original parameters as to the use of the facilities. The remaining restrictions were a problem but were probably the best way to meet the requirements of safely integrating the two groups into the shelter given the limited available transport at that time.

  Pancho and I left and returned to the caves where Pancho described what they could expect in our shelter. His presentation to his audience was very encouraging and I could see he had convinced them. He described the quarantine requirements and accommodation to a hushed auditorium. At the end of his presentation everyone enthusiastically agreed to move, as quickly as possible, to our shelter.

  It was then unanimously decided that we would take Miguel, Fabio, Pancho, and three others cave representatives with a maximum load of valuable items to the rich man shelter. We would stay there for the night while protecting the vehicle from the cold. To achieve this we used the garage facilities that we had previously set up for this purpose. To maximize our working day we maintained the principle of a vehicle guard, normally the cave representatives as Miguel and I would have a full day’s work, and vehicle heating so that we could leave early in the morning.

  The following morning the visitor Pancho, the other cave representatives, Miguel, Fabio and I would continue with a maximum load, this was not great there being limited space in the vehicle, to the main shelter. This task was performed without incident though the transport was a little crowded. Miguel and I then returned to the cave, picked up another load and returned, with two additional cave personnel, to the rich mans shelter. There we all stayed that night. Miguel and I left the following morning, without the two cave representatives and an increased load taken from the rich mans shelter, to complete our journey to our shelter. The cave representatives were allowed to use the facilities for their comfort; it being very cold with such limited personnel present.

  It was intended that we would drop off up to two additional cave representatives at the night stop on every third transport journey until there were seven. We would then take this group to the main shelter where they would stay in quarantine for a reduced period of nine days. At no time during their period in quarantine would they interact in any way with Miguel or myself who would effectively become temporary outcasts of our society. Our reward for our isolation was the freedom to roam across the land and associate with the cave people. These exciti
ng adventures were a joy for both of us after the boredom of shelter life. We considered ourselves privileged and even lucky to have been given such an exiting task.

  On our third journey to our shelter we were surprised to find that the small builder’s lorry had been started, restored to function and from then on would join us on our logistic expeditions. This new vehicle would allow the transportation of up to two thousand five hundred kilograms of stores (we were unable to weigh our transported material so loading was by eye and experience) or personnel spread over the lorry and our four wheel drive. The lorry was capable of greater loads over a paved surface but as we would be travelling over the remains of a considerably rutted road so it was decided that we should remain cautious as not to damage the vehicles.

  We could now greatly increase the rate at which we could move the stores. As an aside, however, I and several other from our shelter were becoming worried that we were creating too much of a visible footprint in spite of our earlier opinion that we could satisfactorily deal with any problems that might arise. With the lorry and the four wheel drive using the trail over several weeks it would later be difficult to cover our tracks without a very considerable effort.

  The problem remained, however, that in the improving weather our tracks might be followed by visitors having unknown wishes and capabilities. Conversely with our transport systems we would now be able to move our new friends and their wonderful stores to the shelter more rapidly accumulating addition facilities and personnel in a shorter time. The gathering together of the two groups could only be to our mutual advantage and though concerned I, and most of the others, now considered the risks acceptable. Any group wishing to attack us would have to be very well provisioned, armed and have several vehicles; From our experience this was an unlikely combination after all that had happened.

  It was the rapid transit of stores and personnel that convinced us to accept the slight risk of leaving a visible footprint until we had completed the store transfer. Even though we had found a fairly large group of survivors at our first attempt this well organized group had made no attempt to seek out others and had no vehicles and limited weapons. We had looked for our new friends using high technology search equipment unlikely to be available to others. We had attempted such adventures for humanitarian concerns based on our perception that we had sufficient facilities to support additional personnel. We would, undoubtedly, benefit, in many ways, from a reasonably extended society.

  I was delegated to explain the new transport facilities to the cave dwellers who responded very positively. They were keen to benefit from our superior facilities though with a reducing population their caves would become less comfortable. For this reason we decided to strip one cave over two days with the remaining population moving to the other cave. We chose the furthest cave to be repopulated; it being the largest. It would, for a short time, be overcrowded but they would, initially, be warmer and more comfortable hence use less energy; this being, at that time, a limiting factors of survival. With the generosity of our new friends we had sufficient to last those then within our shelter and the caves through any predictable situation and beyond.

  Once the two groups, caves and shelter, were together this would reduce further the energy use per person within the shelter. Making the benefit of this improved energy situation and efficiency we were able to make greater use of our facilities. We, consequently, decided that we would now aim for at least a ten year period of diesel and food support.

  If it proved that our alternative energy sources were sufficient at an earlier time we would release some of our diesel stock for alternative energy uses such as long distance travel to look for distressed survivors over a greater area. We also intended to find and return to functionality a small petrol vehicle as we would then be able, at some later time, to convert such a vehicle to use sustainable alcohol fuel. We also intended to develop a vegetable oil fuel as a diesel substitute for our current vehicles; but that would come a little later.

  The first fuel that we brought from the caves in twenty five litre containers was used to fill our shelter’s immovable, depleted storage tanks. This released many twenty five litre containers that were then returned to the caves and used to bring more diesel from the caves larger containers. These containers could not be manhandled when full but when emptied we were able to transport them to the shelter. Once there they provided more fuel storage capacity in our then restored outbuildings to be filled with more twenty five litre containers.

  We also had to build a new underground storage area some way from our accommodation units. This would take the increased petrol and gas supply that was now available to us. This fuel increase allowed us to view our future with even more confidence opening up possibilities that we had, until then, considered only in our far future. This was an exciting development allowing the expectation of improvements in our, and hopefully any new guests, futures.

  We succeeded, during this time, in making one full trip a day having changed the arrangements so that we now used the rich mans shelter as a nightly stopover on our return journey to the cave. This stopover allowed us to meet our new friends in a more convivial atmosphere and discuss with them their abilities and skills.

  We found that one young man was a nearly fully trained surgeon, having reached the stage of specializing in heart surgery. As far as we knew we had no requirement for this specialty but he would be a very welcome addition to our medical services as a general surgeon. Our vets had proven themselves capable human surgeons for an appendicitis operation and the repair of injuries to those brought in from the rich mans shelter but the human population might have been uncomfortable about being treated by even such highly trained animal experts. Anyway the new surgeon was welcomed for his addition to our capabilities.

  Keeping the lorry and four wheel drive vehicles warm, when exposed to the elements, was a problem but by running the engines and moving the vehicle for ten minutes every hour, whilst loading the vehicle at the cave, maintained the vehicles in running condition. By setting up a rota of those persons in the rich mans shelter to support a small wood fire under the engines in the garage, having first covered the engines and gearboxes with blankets, allowed the oil to remain fluid and the engines to start in the mornings. This was followed by a fifteen minute warming of the differentials before leaving. These efforts proved sufficient to keep the units functioning satisfactorily with minimum damage to the components. We had temporarily, while on the transfer project, relaxed our controls over fuel usage though we drivers maintained the principles of economy.

  We completed many trips without any problems and once every ten days we took a group, of up to seven persons including us adventurers, waiting at the rich mans shelter, to the main shelter quarantine area. Things were going well and after sixty five days we had moved over half the stores and most of our new friends to the shelter. The remaining cave personnel were very keen to get to the shelter and those not in the rich mans shelter were now all living in the nearest cave, the smallest, with the remaining stores that we had transferred there using the lorry; a transfer that took another two days. This cave, being the smaller, reduced the energy requirement to support the inmates. You can tell from this that our original idea of using the larger cave had proved erroneous.

  The remaining stores were now largely clothes and ancillary items; the fuel, animals and food had been given priority on the transport and only, it was so nice at this time to consider this as only, about five thousand litres of diesel remained spread between the nearest cave and the rich mans shelter.

  We planned to leave a small amount of stores including two small, non standard, as far as we were concerned, diesel generators in case any more survivors should turn up at the caves. Indeed we planned to leave indicators leading anyone, travelling in that area, to the caves; as we had done at the rich mans shelter. We also left operational instructions for any new tenants written both in English and Spanish. These instructions included our promise that we wou
ld return in the near future but recommended judicious use of the generous level of stores we had left for their use.

  About, I believe, the sixty fifth or sixty sixth day of transitions with the lorry we left after our night at the rich mans shelter and took the lorry and the four wheel drive to the cave. Here, as usual, we loaded up with stores and returned to the rich mans shelter where we picked up those persons staying there intending to transport them to the quarantine area. In the four wheel drive were three persons and four in the lorry; in both cases this included the driver. A reduced number of people, mainly men, remained in the cave and these were volunteers needed to help us load the vehicles; an essential task as we could not park nearer than fifty meters from the smaller cave.

  We had reached, without problems, the solid river and crossed this barrier without any incident. This journey had become routine and perhaps we had become too blasé about the trip. We had reached and were travelling up the path on the other side of the valley leading to our shelter. At this point we heard a very loud, dull, distant explosion followed by a growl and rumble with a vibration that was distinctly felt throughout the vehicle.

  I knew immediately what had happened; having heard that noise before. I had believed that this would not occur again until the weather had warmed up considerably resulting in the breakup of the frozen obstruction. I had believed that the frozen rubbish dam would not be any danger for a considerable period. I had now being proven wrong in all respects and we were all in considerable danger.

  I immediately increased speed as rapidly as I could. I indicated, manually, to Miguel that he should immediately do the same. The four wheel drive was far more capable of acceleration on that slope than the lorry which only had drive on a single axel with four wheels. This vehicle had occasionally needed our four wheel drive assistance on these slopes. Our four wheel drive raced up the hill as rapidly as I was able. Normally I drove conservatively to preserve fuel but on this occasion it was accelerator to the floor making full use of the manual selection of the gearbox, four wheel drive and maximum revolutions.